{Event} New Product Boutique

A few weeks ago I attended the Second Annual New Product Boutique hosted by Shari of Cogan PR. I love this event because it is unlike any event I’ve ever been to. The invitees are in the Health and Wellness arena, myself included! We get to find out about the latest health and wellness products through speed pitching. Each brand has 5 minutes to tell us all about their new product and they also learn as much as they can about us in those 5 minutes. It’s like speed dating for brands! The event was held at The Richmond in Toronto and Shari, being the great host that she is, provided a selection of healthy breakfast options so none of the participants got ‘hangry’ before pitch time.

Some notable product innovations that got my attention include:Rolling Meadow Dairy – Grass fed milk, yogurt, sour cream, and butter. My kids have been drinking a ton of milk lately, in particular, chocolate milk, and although there is negative information about milk out there, I’m not ready to ditch dairy just yet, and neither are my kids. I was pleased to speak to the reps at Rolling Meadows Dairy Company who are Canada’s first year round grass fed dairy. Their cows are raised without the use of added hormones and stimulants, and they only use non-GMO feed. I sampled the 2 % dark chocolate milk and it tasted delicious. They use Fair Trade chocolate and golden sugar in their chocolate milk. If my kids like milk so much, milk products are something I’m definitely going to explore a little more.Clif Nut Butter filled energy bars – I’ve enjoyed Clif Energy Bars before. These ones were unique because they are filled with nut butter. It’s a fun surprise to the usually dry and dense protein bar. I tried the peanut butter flavour – they’re good! And a great grab-and-go option, which I’m always looking for.Nature’s Path Organic launched the first Organic and non-gmo Breakfast Biscuit. I was excited about these because I love cookies and so do my kids. I tried the Blueberry and chia biscuit and they were quite good – reminiscent of those cookies from my childhood called Digestifs (I was a big fan of those!) Cookies are a pretty convenient option in the morning for us, and they made a great addition to my coffee at the New Product Boutique. I have always enjoyed Nature’s Path Organics Granola Bars so, I wasn’t surprised that these were delicious.Now! Diffuser and Essential Oils – Essential Oils is another area I keep wanting to explore further, but never seem to have time to do my research. Every single time I attend a yoga class, I’m intoxicated by the essential oil scents in the air. This company was at last year’s New Product Boutique where they gave me a sample of their Essential Oils and I pick it up and smell it every few weeks — “buy an essential oil diffuser” keeps landing on my shopping list. Well, they took care of this for me because I got to go home with their USB Portable Ultrasonic Oil Diffuser. This diffuser is so cool because it fits in the cup holder of my car! It also hooks up to those portable phone batteries or a laptop so you can take it virtually anywhere – right now it’s sitting in my office – and it’s a great addition!Mann’s is a veggie company that I’m familiar with, and they are launching their convenient Nourish Bowls. A single serve warm meal with veggies, grain and sauce that is ready in 3-4 minutes. There are five flavours such as Butternut Kale Risotto and Sesame Sriracha. These are a great idea for a quick and convenient meal. They really beat running through a drive through. I am a complete diva at lunch – I don’t like stepping away from my work for too long so my meal has to come together in minutes. The concept is great but I didn’t get a chance to sample the bowls.Raw Foodz – I was really impressed with the creator of the company, Michelle Kopman, and her story. She wanted to create wholesome creations, like dressings and dips, that are organic, vegan, preservative free and healthy. She had her family in mind when she created her line of dressings, dips, spreads and puddings, frostings and bars (I tried the pudding which came in the most adorable little containers). Michelle did a fantastic job building her company. I also sampled the Sea-zar Serenity salad dressing and it had a great flavour!Alligga is a revolutionary Omega-3 rich Flaxseed cooking oil. Normally, it is not advisable to cook with flaxseed oil due to its low smoking point — I was intrigued with their innovation and how their filtering process allows the smoke point to rise to 485 degrees, while maintaining a 60% Omega-3 content. Thank you, so much, to Shari of Cogan PR. It is always a truly wonderful experience learning about new innovative health food and products that we will be seeing on our store shelves very soon! I hope to be writing about some of these products in more detail so stay tuned! With Love, Julie

Julie Miguel is a digital content producer with a specialization in food media as well as an active food blogger. The focus of her blog, Daily Tiramisu, is to empower home cooks to be fearless in the kitchen and she does this by taking traditionally difficult recipes and making them easier to execute.